Educator Effectiveness Peer Observations

Teachers throughout the district are dropping in for quick visits in their colleagues' classrooms.  The focus for the last two weeks has been on classroom management and positive classroom environment. Teachers have been grouped with two or three other colleagues and leave short notes in Google Classroom.  Here are a few examples of positive classroom environment and classroom management that teachers are seeing:

Cynthia Weyerman Sept 15
Nancy Camara’s students were engaged in a math lesson. The desk placement and physical environment were perfect for learning and classroom management. Students were easily monitored to tell if they were on task, but they also could easily turn and talk. It was clear that they understood the classroom procedures and expectations. Students began quickly and stopped immediately when asked to start and stop sharing. They maintained a whisper voice during sharing. She gave great compliments and encouragement along the way to promote good choices. When a reminder had to be given it was quick, kind, and didn’t disrupt the flow of the lesson. I was extremely impressed by her exemplary classroom management!

Jana LoPresti Sept 15
I observed Payge Chambliss and her first graders. They were working in small groups with each group performing a different task. The students knew exactly what they were supposed to be doing. A small group was working with Mrs. Chambliss while the other students worked in groups. Students were on task and if they had questions, I saw many of them asking a friend instead of asking the teacher. Expectations were clear and students were working beautifully.

Heather Findley Sept 22
I was able to observe Lee Swatzell's class on Tuesday. She has an awesome positive reinforcement system where she gives the students tickets for being on task. She used it to help remind students to stay on task when they were getting distracted. She didn't say anything, just put the tickets in the students' pockets that were on task and it quickly pulled the students that were off task back on task.

Doug Benton  9/19/2016
Subject/Teacher: Jared Meads - 8th Grade Physical Science
Well Managed Classroom  - A Science Starter (Bell Ringer) was on the board, as wells as the Learning Target was posted. Students were able to walk in and immediately become engaged and focused by writing their learning target in their Learning Target tracker and to solving the Science starter problem.

Positive Classroom Environment - equity cards were used  to call on student during discussion of the problem solving stations that they had done the previous week. Students were encouraged to defend their answers with evidence.

Students self-assessed and indicated their understanding questions asked during their review by a show of fingers (5 = got it - 1 = need help) to rate their level of understanding.  This is a good way to quickly assess student understanding.

Please indicate 1 GLOW (compliment/something done well) for your colleague.
Your students were engaged and and seem to know what to do without being reminded to be on task. You did a good job of asking them probing questions and having them defend their answers with evidence.  You also but provided support along the way while they are answering if they need assistance.  The project is a great way to have them use their knowledge in  a useful and meaningful problem solving exercise.

Jane Sulser Sept 22
I observed Kim Evans. She had a small group working with her at the table. The other students were working quietly at their tables. I was so amazed that these kindergartners were able to stay on task while Kim worked with her group. It was very obvious that Kim had set clear expectations with her students and had been consistent with those expectations!